Known from the state of the art are field devices, which are used in industrial plants. In process automation technology, same as in manufacturing automation technology, field devices are often applied. Referred to as field devices are, in principle, all devices, which are applied near to the process and which deliver, or process, process relevant information. Thus, field devices are used for registering and/or influencing process variables. Serving for registering process variables are measuring devices, i.e. sensors. These are used, for example, for pressure- and temperature measurement, conductivity measurement, flow measurement, pH measurement, fill level measurement, etc. and register the corresponding process variables, pressure, temperature, conductivity, pH-value, fill level, flow, etc. Used for influencing process variables are actuators. These involve, for example, pumps or valves, which can influence the flow of a liquid in a pipe or tube or the fill level in a container. Besides the above mentioned measuring devices and actuators, considered to be field devices are also remote I/Os, radio adapters, and, generally, devices, which are arranged at the field level.
A large number of such field devices are produced and sold by the Endress+Hauser group of firms.
In modern industrial plants, field devices are, as a rule, connected with superordinated units via communication networks, such as, for example, fieldbusses (ProfiBus®, Foundation® Fieldbus, HART®, etc.). Normally, the superordinated units are control units, such as, for example, a PLC (programmable logic controller). The superordinated units serve, among other things, for process control, as well as for start-up of the field devices. The measured values registered by the field devices, especially sensors, are transferred via a bus system to one or more superordinated units, which, in given cases, further process the measured values and forward them to the control room of the plant. The control room serves for process visualizing, process monitoring and process control via the superordinated units. Along with that, also required is data transfer from the superordinated unit via the bus system to the field devices, especially for configuration and parametering of field devices as well as for operating actuators.
Used for servicing the field devices are corresponding operating programs (operating tools), which either run on the superordinated units self-sufficiently (Endress+Hauser FieldCare, Pactware, AMS Fisher-Rosemount, PDM Siemens) or else are integrated in control room applications (Siemens PCS7, ABB Symphony, Emerson Delta V). The terminology “servicing” includes, among other things, a parametering of the field device, an updating of the field device and/or a querying and visualizing of process data and/or diagnostic data of the field device.
Before start-up and for maintenance during operation of the field device, the field device user must parameter the field device. For parametering, especially for reading and/or writing of parameters, servicing devices are applied. Such servicing devices communicate with the field device via an interface.
Field devices can have a large number of parameters. Thus, currently, a few hundred parameters is no rarity for an individual field device. In the case of failure of a field device, the parameters of a substitute field device must be set to the same parameter values as the parameter values of the field device taken out of service. For this reason, backup of the parameter values of all field devices located in a plant is very important, in order to minimize the costs- and time consumed occurring with a basic parametering of a substitute field device.
The backup of these parameter values can occur by means of various methods:                in the form of a backup file stored in a servicing device;        as a backup file in a withdrawable memory module, for example, a memory card, of the field device; and/or        as measuring point documentation in the form of a printout on paper.        
Each these methods can have considerable disadvantages. For example, the backup files can get lost in the course of time. The removable memory module of the field device can be destroyed together with the field device, for example, due to a fire or a voltage spike.